God, Oriental Medicine, & Aikido

I went back to Aikido last night after almost of year of being outside the dojo. Sensei called me and my friend up a week ago saying that we need to come back so that he can formally give us our 5th kyu certificates and yukyusha card, that way we can officially be a part of the Aikido federation. It was really great to be back and painful at the same time. I had started running daily 1 week before the class so that helped in the cardio department, but not in the stretching and muscle strength department.

Overall, there was lots of pain, but in a good way. More than that though, sensei really gave us some true pearls of Aikido wisdom. Particularly in the area of the concept to be 'one' with oneself and 'one' with your attacker. Diving into ideas of meditation and biblical theology, the aikido concept of this very common idea, became that much more clear. The most impactful image that he gave was, as an aikidoka, if I were to be attacked, and in turn I had a lapse of judgment and caused my attack harm, when I in turn am striving to be one with my attacker, who is it that I really hurt? This sort of thinking is not the norm of the martial arts world, but an idea that is in it's foundations of all martial arts. How is it that these ideas have been forgotten to the point that we read them, hear them and yet not be able to feel them. Has society gone so deep into it's post - modern state that our thoughts are now too complicated with the ways of the world?

Stillness was the other area that sensei had talked about last night. That in everything we do today, there is no sense of singularity in thought but a complex stream of concerns, worries, and trepidations that again take us away from the truth that is supposed to be paramount in our thoughts. That truth being what it is that we are supposed to be focused on at any given time. "How many times have we tried to study a book, read it, read it again, and wonder, how many periods and commas were in the text, let alone ponder upon why the author chose to pick the words and place them in the page as he or she has done so. " Our thoughts are always being bombarded with multiple thoughts even when we try to be in a meditative state of concentration. I know that I myself fall victim to this daily as I'm sure that many other students do, the struggle of calming my mind in order to concentrate on the task that is given to me. Countless number of times that I've read a chapter in it's entirety, only to find that i have to read it again, because I was thinking about how I would cook that piece of venison that is cryo - bagged in my Freezer. The Calming stillness of one's mind is something that everyone yearns for and innately understands it's importance, but in an age of modernity have lost the ability to truly focus ones mind to such a still state that it's physical appearance would be that of a calm ripple - less lake. Biblically, these extra collateral thoughts are supposed to be satan trying to take us away from the truth of God's Universe so as that our minds can remain in the temptuousness of the world that satan rules over. How important than in a world that is a fully fortified battery of temptations in sexy sin, is it that we pray, meditate, and consume upon, with great hunger, the words of the righteous and holy?

The balance game that we play on a daily basis, is truly something to chew on some more before swollowing. TCM, as far as I've heard so far states that the balance of yin and yang is paramount importance in the treatment and well being of the human creature. The upsetting part is that due to the changes in chinese socitey, this idea has been taken to a new level of misunderstanging, by means of removing the spiritual importance of the two. Just as how 21 century Protestants in America have slowly removed the spiritual aspect or worship, TCM has also done so to a certain degree. Judeo Christian thoughts idea on the Spirit makes so much sense in the CCM sense that the focus of healing should be on the spirit and the functional aspect of the being rather than the physical body itself. So, what are these things? Working diligently, living a life of discipline, hungering for the word of God, meditation upon the world of God, Fellowship with brothers and sisters, Loving all those that live on the earth, Taking rest when it is time to rest, and sureing up ones self when it is time to regain. This to me sounds like a pretty darn busy schedule in anyones daily life. Here's something interesting, the bible also states that the physically body that we have on earth is nothing more than a shell for our true selves (spirit).

-Peace